The history of aesthetic education is almost as long as the history of human civilization. Witchcraft in primitive society is also a means of aesthetic education for early people. As early as the Zhou Dynasty, China formed a system of educating aristocratic children with "six arts" (ritual, music, shooting, imperial, calligraphy and mathematics). Music is an aesthetic education course with the trinity of poetry, music and dance. "Book" is learning to write, which has both practical purposes and elements of calligraphy art. "Shooting" and "Imperial" are skills to practice archery and driving, and posture beautification training is also included in sports and military training. "Rite" is not only to instill the moral concept of the ruling class, but also to cultivate the beauty of manners, behavior and language. From then on, no matter the Fu in the Han Dynasty, the debates, paintings and sculptures in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the poems in the Tang and Song Dynasties, the operas and novels in the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, or the architecture, gardens and handicrafts of past dynasties, they all played a wide role in aesthetic education. In the modern democratic revolution in China, some scholars and educators also attached great importance to aesthetic education. For example, Cai Yuanpei inherited the traditional ideas of Chinese and western aesthetic education and called for the implementation of aesthetic education. Tao Xingzhi (189 1 ~ 1946) founded the "engineering group" and "education school" which also attached great importance to aesthetic education.

In the west, the education system in Athens includes muse education and physical education. Muse is the name of the goddess of literature and art in Greek mythology, and muse education is a comprehensive literary education. In sports, Greeks attach importance to bodybuilding and graceful movements. Greece is also eloquent. Although its main goal is to develop intelligence, it also includes the training of language beauty. Both Greek education and aesthetic theory emphasize "virtue", that is, the unity of beauty and goodness. Although medieval Europe despised art, it still used church architecture, church music, icon painting and religious sculpture to educate people aesthetically. After the Renaissance, humanistic education advocated the cultivation of "perfect people". This course includes many factors such as intellectual education, aesthetic education, moral education and physical education. It emphasizes the importance of music and pictures to children's education and puts forward the idea of "learning from the joy of games". /kloc-France in the 0/8th century, J.-J. Rousseau advocated "natural education" and opposed rational coercion. He particularly emphasized the role of touch in education, and thought that various games and painting activities were of great significance to the development of vision. He also asked to develop listening and train children's ability to sing and enjoy music. /kloc-at the end of 0/8, the hurricane movement rose in Germany, and its representatives Goethe and Schiller both advocated the liberation of personality and attached importance to the all-round development of people. Schiller's aesthetic education thought is of epoch-making significance. He wants to prove that the main way to solve social problems is aesthetic education. He regards the all-round and harmonious development of human nature as his aesthetic ideal, and wants to transform society and realize human liberation through aesthetic education. He said: "The moral state only developed from the aesthetic state, not from the natural state." "There is no other way to make an emotional person a rational person than to make him an aesthetic person first." "The step from aesthetic state to logical and moral state (from beauty to truth and obligation) is easier than the step from physical state to aesthetic state (from simple blind life to form)." Schiller believes that pure moral life suppresses sensibility with rationality, which makes life stiff and boring, while in the art of beauty, sensibility and rationality can achieve harmony unconsciously. He called this free combination of reason and sensibility "a beautiful mind". In his view, aesthetic activities can provide noble sentiments for people's spiritual life and make people unconsciously accept moral concepts. After him, F.W.A Froebel of Germany (1782 ~ 1852) established a new preschool education system. He is the founder of kindergarten and the inventor of children's building blocks. J. Laroskin (18 19 ~ 1900) and W. Morris (1834 ~ 1896) in Britain advocate popularizing noble works of art to young students and the general public in order to pull back the decline of aesthetic taste in modern society. Later, German art educators Langer and H. Minsterberg (1863 ~ 19 16), American aesthetician Monroe and British aesthetician H. Reid successively advocated art education in schools and society, and further studied the theory of aesthetic education. Aesthetic education also plays an important role in the aesthetic theory and educational theory of the Soviet Union. In contemporary European and American countries, aesthetic education has become an indispensable part of national education.